Digital Bits Technology Column QnA

Question:

I viewed your site on converting tracks from tapes to CD.  The instructions on your site are correct right?  We are going to buy the cables we need and hope that we will be doing the right thing.  You say to prevent damage to try and use the line out jack and not the microphone.  on my laptop i have 2 sockets one for the microphone and the other for the headphones.  which one do i use?

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Question:

I have a Sony camcorder, mini DVDs that I have had 3 different discs tell me there is a “Disc Error” prior to finalizing disc. I am not even able to view disc on camera (to then possible burn to another DVD). It doesn’t allow me to do anything with disc, yet you can see that info. has been recorded on the DVD. If you have any advice, it would be greatly appreciated (besides the fact that I need a new camera!).

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Question:

I’ve been trying to secure copies of the television series, “Route 66″, since before last Christmas. My dad had a speaking role in one of the episodes filmed here in Cleveland and I’ve been wanting to see it for years. I also wanted to make it available to my family. To make a long story short, I tried buying it from a site I thought was okay and ended up getting burned. I got my money refunded, but that was due to my bank. My question is this: Which sites ARE okay to do business with? Any suggestions?

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Question:

I was successful in converting from Cassette to my computer then I exported as .wav. I wanted to create a CD that would play in my car DVD player and was told that I need to convert to .dca but is your free Audacity download able to do this conversion? I want to transfer my music from my cassettes to a CD where that CD will pay in my vehicle player. Any thoughts or advice on this topic.

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Question:

When our son played high school football during 1987 & 1988 I recorded the FM radio broadcast of each game on to VHS tapes and then I added TV highlights at the end.  As a present to him I would like to transfer these tapes, 20 more or less, to preferably DVD’s.  With 20 years plus age on these tapes I would like to do so while they are in reasonably good condition.  I have a Sony RDR-GX7 DVD recorder which I have used to copy VHS tapes that have both audio and video as well as tapes from my Sony Hi-8 camcorder to DVD’s with much success.  However, my dilemma is that my VCR will not produce a recognizable sound track of the audio only portions of the tapes to transfer.  I have a Dell Dimension 8400 with plenty of capacity with CD and DVD burners, Sonic programs as well as Pinnacle software.  Also I am considering buying DVD/VCR combo to replace one of my VCR’s that just died.  Can you offer a procedure including equipment to complete my task?
 
Thank you for any advice you may be able give me.

Continue reading ‘VHS to DVD conversion questions’ »